Manipulator for rolling mills



Filed Dec. 7, 1948 2, Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. MA Two: [AM/55V BY W9 /M fi x x U E 1.5:: x v LF :3 m\ v v QM m mm o mm ,N ..\\/I g WW T Q\'|.

17, 5 M. LANGEN v MANIPULATORS FOR ROLLING MILLS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 7, 1948 Patented Aug. 17, 1954 MANIPULATOR FOR ROLLING MILLS Mathias Langen, Parkstone, England, assignor'to The Loewy Engineering Company Limited, London, England, a corporation of Great Britain Application December 7, 1948, Serial No. 63,920

2 Claims.

In blooming and slabbing mills or the like manipulators are generally provided to enable a bloom or a slab to be shifted across one of the roller tables at the'front and back of the mill in order to place a workpiece in its correct position relative to the working rolls. Rolling mill ma nipulators consist generally of separate units arranged in pairs at the front and back of the mill stand respectively, one of the units of each pair being'situated at either side of a mill table. Each of the units incorporates a sideguard extending alongside a mill table and adapted to be shifted across the table, whereby a bloom or a slab lying on the table will be carried along and brought into its correct position relative to the working rolls. The shifting means for the manipulator units, which may be either electro-mechanical or hydraulic, is generally accommodated in beam-like extensions projecting outwardly from the sideguards in the shifting direction.

Usually, at least one of the units, of which a manipulator is composed, is equipped with a mechanism for tilting a workpiece, this mechanism consisting of a series of fingers having hookshaped ends which depend downwardly far enough to engage a workpiece from below. The tilting fingers are so arranged on the sideguard relative to the table rollers as to face the gaps between the rollers so that they can pass through these gaps when the manipulator unit is shifted across the table. As, during the initial stages of the rolling process, the workpieces are mostly of short length, it is desirable to arrange two or three tilting fingers of the series nearest to the mill stand as close to each other as possible, which means in practice a tilting finger should face each of the two or three roller gaps nearest the mill stand.

It is important to note here that the workpieces whilst being shifted or tilted are often subjected to heavy shocks which cause the scale with which the workpieces are covered to come oii in pieces and drop into the pit below the roller table. It also occurs sometimes that whole portions of the material which do not have a very firm cohesion with the rest of the workpiece fall off when the latter is shifted or tilted.

The manipulator units are generally supported by rollers which are either stationary so that the sideguards and beams of the units pass over them during the shifting movement, or attached to the units so as to take part in the shifting movement, in which case they run on tracks.

The stationary arrangement of the'supporting rollers has the drawback of creating a consider- 2 able overhang on the part of the sideguards, when the latter are shifted right across the table, whereby severe bending loads are apt to be caused on the beams.

In the case of the second arrangement, the tracks for the supporting rollers extend into the gaps between the table rollers or into the spaces beneath those gaps where they are fully exposed to the scale and scrap-pieces likely to fall from the blooms or slabs. This-is liable to result in obstructing or impeding the shifting movement of the manipulator units. A furtherdrawback of this arrangement is that supporting rollers cannot be disposed at or near the mill end of the manipulator units as they would then interfere with the tilting fingers which, as has been explained above, have to be closely spaced at the end; the supporting rollers have therefore to'be disposed at some distance from the mill end which results in an unsymmetrical and disadvantageous distribution of the supporting rollers.

It is the object of the invention to provide a manipulator unit of the kind described in which the aforesaid drawbacks are overcome.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a manipulator unit of the type described which can be readily lifted out if desired so as to give access to the roller table'for maintenance and repair purposes.

It is a still further object of'the invention to provide a manipulator unit of the kind described in which the guiding means for the sidegnard beams can be made lighter than heretofore possible.

According to the invention the supporting rollers of a manipulator unit are attached to the unit and arranged at such positions relative to the table rollers that the supporting rollers will, on being shifted together with the manipulator unit, travel along paths situated directly underneath the table rollers. The tracks for the supporting rollers will then be located in the pit below the roller table and in the spaces directly underneath some of the table rollers.

In this way the supporting rollers and their tracks will be protected by the table rollers against any scale or scrap-pieces which may fall off a bloom or a slab, and the tracks will be kept clear from any obstruction. Furthermore, the supporting rollers and their bearings will be shielded by the table rollers from the heat radiated from the workpieces which, among other advantages, enables ball or roller bearings to be employed for the supporting rollers.

The invention can also'be defined'as consisting in that the supporting rollers for a manipulator unit which are adapted to run on horizontal tracks, extending across a mill table in a direction parallel to the axes of the table rollers, are arranged at a level below the table rollers and at such points along the sideguard of the manipulator unit that the tracks for the supporting rollers can be placed directly underneath individual table rollers or, in other words, in spaces defined by the vertical projections of individual table rollers. I g V According to a further feature of this invention the connection between the manipulator unit and its supporting rollers may be detachable so as to allow the unit itself to be lifted out at its sideguard end whilst leaving the supporting rollers on their tracks. Normally, however, the supporting rollers and the unit will remain together, the rollers following the unit during its shifting movement so that no overhang will occur on the part of the sideguards.

The arrangement of the supporting rollers at points below the table rollers makes it possible to arrange supporting rollers at any one point along a manipulator unit without interfering with the arrangement of a tilting finger at the same point.

A further advantage of the invention is that the guiding means for the sideguard beams which enclose the outer ends of the beams can be made considerably lighter than hitherto possible due to the absence of any bending loads on the beams.

Other features of the invention will become apparent in the course of the following specification, in which one embodiment of a manipulator according to the invention is described by way of example.

Fig. l is a front end view of a rolling mill, with a roller table and a manipulator unit arranged at either side thereof.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section on a somewhat larger scale along lines 22 of Fig. 1 showing the sideguard of a manipulator unit and its supporting rollers in elevation.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section along lines 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

In Fig. l of the drawings, a blooming or slabbing mill or the like of any suitable and conventional design has housings H3 and a pair of working rolls H in which the usual square or rectangular pass grooves 52 are provided. Arranged in front of the mill is a roller table comprising a number of rollers it which are journalled in side frames id and driven by any suitable means not shown here. A similar roller table is arranged at the other side of the mill, and the following description applies to both tables likewise.

Associated with each of the two roller tables are pairs of manipulator units, one at either side of a table, which serve the purpose of shifting a workpiece R. across the roller table so as to bring it in its correct position relative to the working rolls H and their pass grooves 12 respectively. To this end, each manipulator unit comprises a sideguard I5 extending alongside the roller table and adapted to be shifted across the roller table by means presently to be described.

In the embodiment shown here, these means consist of rack and pinion drives I6 and H, the teeth of the racks being cut into the underside of horizontal beams it which extend in a direction away from the sideguard [5. As a rule, two beams I8 are provided on each sideguard. The

pinions I! are mounted on axles IQ and are adapted to be rotated by gear means 25. It will be understood that this rotation will move beams 18 in a longitudinal direction and thus shift the manipulator unit across the roller table. The beams 98 are held in guides, formed by two side shields 22 pivoted about the axle Hi, the side shields 22 having detachable top flanges 23 which overlie lateral protrusions on the beams 13. In

this way, the beams iii are guided laterally and vertically during their shifting movement. Rings 24, mounted on the pinions i1, support the beams 18 at their outer ends during the shifting movement. Pedestals 26 carry the axles 19. A butfer spring 2! is interposed between each beam and pedestal 25 so as to absorb any shocks which may occur during the shifting movement.

The sideguard 15 of the left-hand manipulator unit of Fig. 1 is provided with a mechanism for tilting a workpiece R if required, this mechanism comprising a series of fingers 2! with hooked ends. These fingers depend into the gaps between adjacent table roller 23 and are connected at 28 to arms 29 mounted on a common rocker shaft 30 (Figs. 2 and 3), so that rotation of the rocker shaft 36 will swing the fingers 21 forward. The rocker shaft 39 is supported on the manipulator unit by brackets 40 and rotated by a motor 4! through a system of links 42.

The sideguard I5 is provided with lugs or ears 3i which depend into the gaps between adjacent table rollers 23 and beyond. The ends of the lugs 3i are forked and the prongs 32 of the forks straddle blocks 33, carrying one supporting roller 34 at either end. As will be seen more clearly from Fig. 2, the supporting rollers 3d are so arranged with respect to the table rollers that each of them travels when being shifted in the spaces underneath one of the table rollers 53 or more precisely defined in the spaces circumscribed by the vertical projections of one of the table rollers I 3. Likewise, the tracks 35 for the supporting rollers 34 are positioned in those spaces. In this way, both the supporting rollers 3 and their tracks 35 are fully protected by the table rollers 13 against any scale or scrap pieces, likely to fall off a workpiece R. lying on the table rollers 3. The table rollers 53 shield also the supporting rollers 34 against any heat radiated from a workpiece R; this makes it possible to use ball or roller bearings for the supporting rollers 3 Hence the axial space for the bearings can be made very small, so that the axial extension of the entire structure comprising a pair of supporting rollers 34 and a carrier block 33 in between is very short too. The pitch of the table rollers i3 does not therefore have to be increased above the normal amount.

The lugs 3! are seated loosely on the blocks 33 so that the manipulator unit can be lifted out whilst the supporting elements rest in their places. On the other hand, the lugs 3| will remain in engagement with the blocks 33 during the shifting movement of the manipulator unit whatever its direction may be as the prongs 32 embrace the blocks 33 from opposite sides. The manipulator unit will therefore remain fully supported at either end by the rollers 24 and 3:3 respectively, and no overhanging of any part of the unit will occur even should it be shifted into its extreme position across the roller table.

Each of the carrier blocks 33 has a downward extension 36 which is provided with flanges 37 which engage the tracks 35 from inside and thus act as guides for the rollers 34.

In addition to the lugs 3| the sideguard I5 is provided with one or more downwardly depending lugs 38 guided in transverse runways 39, belonging to the base frame of the manipulator unit, whereby any lateral thrust loads will be transmitted from the unit to the base frame.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3 some of the lugs 3| are recessed for accommodation of one of the tilting fingers 27. As will be seen more clearly from the left-hand end 01' Fig. 2 it is possible to arrange a tiltin finger 27 and a carrier block 33 in the same table roller gap so that the placement of the tilting fingers 27 does not put any limitations on the placement of the supporting rollers and vice versa.

The supporting rollers 34 and their blocks 33 are readily accessible and removable, after the manipulator unit has been swung upwardly about its shaft l9. Pivoting of the manipulator unit will first cause the carrier blocks 33 to follow this movement for a short distance in view of their connection with the lugs 3| through the prongs 32. However, in the course of further movement the prongs 32 will slide off the blocks 33, and the latter will then be free to tilt back into the upright position. Complete removal of the blocks 33 can be efiected after turning them through 90 about their vertical axes whereby the supporting rollers 34 attached to them are moved into the space below the table roller gap.

If it is desired to remove the entire manipulator unit, all that is necessary is to detach the flanges 23 from the side shields 22 whereupon the unit can be lifted out by means of an overhead crane.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment shown and described here and is capable of being carried out in different ways. For instance, the manipulator units instead of being driven as shown here, electro-mechanically by a motordriven shaft through a rack and pinion gear, can be associated with a hydraulic drive, consisting of cylinders and plungers attached to the manipulator unit, or by any other suitable means.

What I claim is:

1. In a rolling mill having a roller table in front of a rolling mill for transporting material thereto, said table having a, plurality of spaced rollers, the combination including a sideguard adapted to be moved across said table, said sideguard being tiltable upwards about an axis substantially parallel to the path of flow of material to said rolling mill, supporting means for said sideguard including legs depending from said sideguard located in staggered relationship with respect to said spaced rollers and passing downward therebetween, a separate wheeled support for each leg, wheels mounted on said support, each of said wheels being off-set laterally relative to said leg and support and extending directly beneath said rollers when said sideguard is moved across said table, and means connecting a leg to its wheeled support to move said wheeled support with said sideguard as the sideguard is moved across said roller table and to allow separation of said member as the sideguard is tilted.

2. In a rolling mill having a roller table in front of a rolling mill for transporting material thereto, said table having a plurality of spaced rollers, the combination including a sideguard adapted to be moved across said table, workpiece manipulating elements mounted on said sideguard for tilting a workpiece on said table, supporting means for said sideguard, including legs depending from said sideguard located in staggered relationship with respect to said spaced rollers and passing downwardly therethrough,

some of said supporting means having recesses accommodating said manipulating elements, a separate wheeled support for each leg, wheels mounted on said support, each of said wheels being off-set laterally relative to said leg and support and extending directly beneath said rollers when said sideguard is moved across said table, and means loosely detachably connecting a leg to its wheeled support to move said wheeled support with said sideguard as the sideguard is moved across said roller table and to allow ready separation of said sideguard from said wheeled supports and wheels when the sideguard is lifted from said wheeled support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,447,274 Benjamin Mar. 6, 1923 1,562,773 Johnson Nov. 24, 1925 1,581,842 Iversen Apr. 20, 1926 2,271,213 Weidner et al Jan. 27, 1942 2,334,026 Peterson Nov. 9, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 26,401 Great Britain Nov. 29, 1908 147,418 Germany Jan. 29, 1904 433,445 Great Britain Aug. 14, 1935 665,919 Germany Oct. 6, 1938 

